From Tim Cook to Issa Rae, these 13 successful people wake up before 6 a.m.

Business Insider

7 days ago

Apple CEO Cook wakes up between 4 and 5 a.m. to read emails from customers.
On a 2023 episode of the podcast "Dua Lipa: At Your Service," Cook said he likes to wake up between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. to respond to emails.
"I read emails from a lot of customers and employees, and the customers are telling me things that they love about us or things that they want changed about us. Employees are giving me ideas. But it's a way to stay grounded in terms of what the community is feeling, and I love it," he said.
The rest of his morning routine involves strength training, getting ready for work, drinking coffee, and eating a light breakfast.
Mark Wahlberg follows an intense morning routine that starts at 3:30 a.m.
In October 2023, Wahlberg told Today.com he wakes up at 3:30 a.m. to work out at 4.
After some reading and "prayer time," he said he starts the process of getting his kids to wake up. He has four children with his wife, Rhea Durham: Grace, 15, Brendan, 16, Michael, 19, and Ella, 21.
" … I'm up and down the stairs at least three times to get the teenagers up and I get them off to school, and then I usually start the rest of my day," he said.
Michael B. Jordan has said he wakes up naturally at 5 a.m.
Jordan said in a 2018 episode of the Vanity Fair series "In a Day" that his "body is a natural alarm clock."
"Whether I like it or not, I get up around 5 o'clock in the morning but then I go back to sleep depending on what I have to do; it's like a second sleep, it's like a really really good sleep," Jordan said.
The "Sinners" star told Ebony in 2024 that when he's actually ready to get up, he likes to stretch, meditate, and do breathing exercises.
Sometimes he'll do cardio on the treadmill or switch up his routine and lift weights instead.
Pinterest's CMO Andréa Mallard wakes up at 5 a.m. to work out and meditate.
In 2022, the Pinterest global CMO told BI that she goes to bed at 9 p.m. so she can start her days at 5 a.m.
Her morning routine consists of 45 minutes of intense cardio, then listening to a five-minute meditation while in the shower. Mallard then makes a breakfast smoothie, which she drinks around 6:30 a.m. while preparing for her workday.
This includes checking emails and reviewing and taking notes on pre-read materials, giving her at least two hours of uninterrupted work before she pauses to help get her three kids ready for school at 8 a.m.
"I'm definitely at my most creative or innovative in the very early morning hours, well before anyone wakes up," she said. "If a work challenge needs lateral thinking or requires serious creative muscle or a tough decision, it's the first thing I'll tackle in the morning."
Emmy-winning comedian, actor, and screenwriter Quinta Brunson usually wakes up at 5 a.m.
In a 2023 episode of Elle magazine's series "Waking Up With…," "Abbott Elementary" creator and star Quinta Brunson shared that although she was waking up at 8 a.m. for the video, she wakes up at 5 a.m. a lot.
The first thing she does in the morning is clean her face with water, a washcloth, and makeup-remover wipes before moving on to skincare products.
Gymshark founder and CEO Ben Francis wakes up between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m. every day.
In a 2022 interview with BI, Francis said he likes to simplify his mornings by doing the same thing every day.
This includes waking up between 5:30 a.m. and 5:45 a.m., much to the dismay of his wife, he said.
He starts his mornings with breakfast and time with his dogs before getting ready and heading to the office, where he works five days a week.
Rae wakes up at 4 a.m. to work out.
"Insecure" creator and Sienna Naturals cofounder Issa Rae has a lot on her plate.
In a 2024 interview with Glamour, Rae was asked about her favorite way to take a moment for herself. "It's in the early morning," she said. "Honestly, I get up at four and that is my workout time."
"And then literally after that time, I sit with coffee and a journal and just sit with my thoughts," Rae added.
Pressed Juicery CEO Justin Nedelman wakes up naturally around 4:15 a.m. on weekdays.
In a July interview with BI, Nedelman said he wakes up around 4:15 a.m. on weekdays.
He starts his mornings with a 10-ounce glass of water and a 5-ounce Americano or pressed cold brew — his only caffeine of the day.
The rest of his morning routine includes everything from meditation and breathwork to catching up on news, working out, and helping his wife make breakfast and lunches for their kids.
Olabisi Boyle, the senior vice president of product planning and mobility strategy at Hyundai Motor North America, wakes up at 5 a.m.
"I start work between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. but wake up at 5 a.m. to give myself time to breathe," Boyle said in an interview with BI in 2023.
Boyle said she likes to start her mornings by checking on yearlong goals and progress.
"Everything I do ties into these initiatives, so it's important to start my mornings by breaking down what needs to be done in order to achieve our goals," she said.
Multi-hyphenate Shonda Rhimes wakes up at 5 a.m. to start writing.
The mind behind hit series like "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and " Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story" collaborated with MasterClass in 2016 to teach writing for television.
In episode 11, "Writing a Script: Effective Habits," Rhimes said, "I used to think that there was like a special magic golden hour in which I wrote better than any other time. But that keeps changing, so I no longer think that's true."
At the time, she said, her schedule involved waking up at 5 a.m. to get a lot of writing done, then focusing on writing again in the office around the middle of the day.
Despite her early wake-up time, Rhimes is an advocate for work-life balance, telling Fast Company in 2017, "I do not answer phone calls or emails after 7 p.m. I do not work on weekends … I mean, I write. I just don't answer phone calls or emails."
Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel gets up around 5 a.m. for "Evan Time."
The 35-year-old described his motivation for waking up early in an interview that appeared in Entrepreneur's Handbook in 2018.
"I get up really early, because that's the only time that's ' Evan Time ' for me, when people aren't really awake yet. I get a couple hours between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. to do whatever I wanna do," he said.
Snap told BI in 2024 that after Spiegel wakes up, he takes 30 minutes to check the app and his email and drink a double espresso.
Bumble founder and former CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd's schedule can require waking up at 5:15 a.m.
"Most of my days are unpredictable and start at different times, so I try my best to keep up with a stable morning routine. I sleep with the drapes open to rise with the sun," Wolfe Herd told Entrepreneur in 2017. "I think that's a healthy thing to do because even if you don't like to wake up early, your body does adjust."
Wolfe Herd gave The New York Times a glimpse into her "unpredictable" days in 2019.
Throughout the week, her mornings included everything from a 5:30 a.m. call with her London-based Bumble founding partner Andrey Andreev to homemade celery juice and Chinese takeout for breakfast and a monthly directors' meeting.
After becoming a mother to two boys, Wolfe Herd told Time magazine in 2023 that she likes to operate one hour at a time.
"I try to do the drive to preschool with no calls so I can pay attention to him," she said of her oldest son, Bobby. "And then the minute I drop him off, literally as I'm giving him a hug out the door, I have to dial into something. But I've structured it so that that call on the way home is totally sequenced perfectly to get back to my computer to then pick up another two things on Zoom."
Disney CEO Bob Iger wakes up around 4 a.m. to enjoy some quiet time.
In a November 2024 episode of the podcast "In Good Company," Iger said he wakes up around 4 a.m. every day.
Iger said that although one could argue he doesn't get enough sleep, the morning time "is rejuvenating."
"First of all, it's meditative, it's quiet. The stimulation that exists in my life when it's still dark out and no one else is up, is toned down, and so when I get a chance to be alone with my thoughts and that gives me an opportunity to be — to order things — meaning to figure out an order and a set of priorities, it gives me an opportunity to think more creatively," he said.
This story was originally published on April 29, 2024, and most recently updated on July 28, 2025.